OCT 10, 2010

On the morning of October 8, comet 103p/Hartley crossed almost in front
of the famous "Double Cluster" near the constellation Cassiopeia. I grabbed about 160
30-second exposures with my CCD camera attached to my 4" refractor.
Shown here is a 10-second animated gif consisting of 94 frames, spanning 55 minutes.
The comet is in the upper left and moving slowly to the right. The Double Cluster
spans across the bottom---a beautiful sight in any small telescope.
If you click on the link you'll get to a page
with a larger animation---on this one you'll notice that an artificial
satellite also scooted across the field of view. The stars in the
Double Cluster are many light-years away, the comet is a few
light-minutes away, and the artificial satellite is just a fraction of a
light-second away.